St. Paul makes history with all-female city council, a rarity among large US cities

ST. PAUL, Minn. – When St. Paul City Council President Mitra Jalali looked out at her fellow council members at their initial meeting this week, she saw all the members’ seats were occupied by women – a first for Minnesota’s capital city.

Experts who track women in politics said St. Paul, with a population of about 300,000 people, is the first large U.S. city they know of with an all-female city council. But even as the council members celebrate the milestone, they are expressing more excitement about what the all- female council can accomplish in the coming year.

“We’re a multifaith, multicultural group of women. Our professional experiences are what people trusted as much as our personal ones. … And we have a clear policy vision that we got elected on,” Jalali said in an interview.

All seven women are under 40 years old, and six out of the seven are women of color. From civil engineering to nonprofit directing, they have a wide range of professional experiences, which Jalali said helps capture the city’s diversity.

“I think that our community is finally reflected by the city council,” Jalali said, adding, “The median age of our community is 32.5. We are a majority person-of-color city. We have many major racial and ethnic groups, many of which are now represented on this council.”

According to researchers with the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, St. Paul is the largest U.S. city they are aware of to ever have an all-female city council.

The Rutgers data show that women continue to be underrepresented as municipal officials across the country. Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the center, said seven out of 10 municipal office holders across the country are male, and most of them are white.

“The fact that you have an all- female council and a majority of women of color, it has a long-term effect on young women and girls seeing them and saying, ‘I can do this, too,’ ” Sinzdak said.

Members held their first city council meeting Wednesday after getting sworn in the day before.

Hwa Jeong Kim, the council’s vice president, and Jalali said that their top priorities include a comprehensive housing policy, renter protections, climate action, public safety interventions that use police officers less and mental health responders more, and economic development.

“I feel like women and women of color and queer and trans women have been grieving for a long time – not for things that they’ve lost, but for things that they’ve never had,” Kim said.

The council “lifts up the progressive values of our community more than ever and is committed to doing that difficult work together – not just in a performative way, but in a way that is sustainable and will really make lasting change,” Jalali added.